It could also be direct evidence that the false accusation had been prepared by several people.
CHAPTER 10. THE HOUSE WHERE THE LIGHT HAS RETURNED
A year later that afternoon, Don Ernesto sat down again on the same couch where he had fallen after being punched by his son.
The upholstery was always cream-colored.
The walls were always beige.
The wooden table retained a small mark on one of its corners.
But a lot had changed.
The first was the camera.
She was always in the same place.
Javier had considered removing it.
Then he decided to keep it.
Not because he wanted to live under surveillance.
But because it represented a lesson he would never forget.
The truth does not always manifest itself in the screams.
Sometimes she remains silent, waiting for someone to have the courage to look for her.
The legal proceedings had lasted several months.
During this period, new evidence regarding Ricardo and Arturo had been discovered.
The partial copy of the recording of the show had proved to be particularly important.
It had made it possible to reconstruct the preparations for the fake attack.
She had also recorded some of the instructions Lucía received before staging her lie.
When Javier first saw these images, he felt an indescribable sense of shame.
Lucía appeared to be talking on the phone.
His voice was strained.
“I don’t know if I can do it.”
The male voice answered:
“You have to get Ernesto out of the house.”
“What if Javier doesn’t believe me?”
“He will believe you. You just have to give him a reason. »
Lucía hung up.
Then she looked towards the door.
She was checking that Javier was not yet in the living room.
She placed herself near Don Ernesto.
And began his performance.
Javier saw his wife pull on her own dress.
He saw her slap herself in the face.
To let yourself fall on the mat.
And his father raised his hands, without understanding what was happening.
He stayed looking at the screen.
Then he asked that the video be stopped.
He couldn’t go on.
For months, he had imagined this moment.
Now he had the proof in front of him.
And he understood that the images could demonstrate his father’s innocence, but that they would never erase the pain he himself had inflicted on her.
The investigation also shed light on a large part of the fraudulent financial network.
Ricardo had used his position of trust for years to intervene in transactions benefiting companies related to him.
Arturo had collaborated in the recruitment of clients and in several of the disputed transactions.
Their methods included exploiting situations of financial vulnerability.
In Lucía’s case, evidence showed links between her early losses and people associated with Arturo.
The so-called adviser had therefore not appeared by chance.
His intervention was part of a strategy to gain access to the Morales family’s wealth.
Elena’s story was particularly painful.
The documents she had kept showed that she had been investigating irregular financial movements for a long time.
His illness had not been caused by Ricardo, contrary to what Javier had come to fear during the most agonizing moments.
The medical reports reviewed did not confirm this hypothesis at all.
On the other hand, it was established that the lawyer had taken advantage of the last months of his life to conceal information and keep certain financial matters under his control.
This fact alone is enough to destroy the image which Don Ernesto had preserved of his old friend.
“I’d known him since I was twenty-two,” he confided to Javier one evening. Almost my whole life. »
“I know, Dad.”
“He was present at our wedding. He knew your mother when we were still engaged. »
Don Ernesto looked at an old photograph.
“There are betrayals that don’t hurt because of the money that is taken away from you.”
Javier waited.
“They hurt because they force you to ask yourself what part of your life was real.”
Javier sat down next to him.
“What you went through with Mom was real.”
The old man smiled sadly.
“Yes, my son.”
He looked at the photograph.
“And they will never be able to take that away from us.”
Finally, the court decision was rendered.
At the end of the proceedings, Ricardo and Arturo were convicted of the offences established in the context of the network of falsification of documents and fraudulent patrimonial transactions.
The judgment also set out the financial responsibilities for the sums whose embezzlement had been proven.
Not all the money could be recovered immediately.
Some funds had passed through different companies.
Others had been spent.
The recovery of the heritage required additional steps.
But Don Ernesto’s house escaped the fraudulent operation.
It never changed ownership.
